Biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature

Janine Benyus's Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature popularized the idea that, after billions of years of evolution, nature has already solved many of the problems engineers and designers face: how to generate energy efficiently, build strong materials, heal wounds, or manage waste without it becoming pollution. Benyus calls the practice of studying and adapting these natural strategies for human use "biomimicry," and the book takes readers into laboratories and field sites with scientists doing exactly that: discovering medicinal compounds by observing what sick chimpanzees eat, studying spider silk to design new fibers, and examining how a leaf converts sunlight into usable energy in a fraction of a second. Rather than treating nature only as a resource to extract from, the book proposes looking to it as a teacher, model and measure for human invention across medicine, computing, energy, agriculture and business. Credits: Benyus, J. (2002). Biomimicry: innovation inspired by nature. Nueva York: Harper Perennial.